The 2021 NBA Trade Deadline was a busy one, with multiple contending teams making splashes while others opted to keep their core and improve on the margins. The Clippers were a part of the latter, trading Lou Williams, along with a pair of second-round picks, in a deal with the Atlanta Hawks for Rajon Rondo. “It kind of caught me off guard a little bit,” Williams said, explaining how the days and hours leading up to the trade went from his perspective. “We heard a couple of little rumblings, nothing really that was sticking. I felt like something was gonna happen, but we didn’t know with who. We didn’t know with what guys. I think that deadline was at three o’clock. I got traded at like 2:45 or something like that. I was preparing for the game and got the call from my agent, he said, ‘We think something is happening, stay by your phone.’ And got that call. That was a tough pill to swallow, but business is business. Things happen.”